What to Expect
The Review Process
- The Commission has pledged to hold six public hearings outside of Washington, D.C., in geographically diverse locations around the country.
- Once the order establishing the ownership review proceeding is released in the Federal Register, the public will have 60 days to file comments with the FCC.
- After the initial comments period, there will also be a reply comment period of 60 days.
- The Commission will release its report sometime after the comment period has ended. There is no deadline for their decision.
Ownership Rules Under Review
| Local Radio Ownership Rule | Allows ownership of up to eight radio stations (on a sliding scale) in a local market, depending on total number of stations in market. |
| Local Television Ownership Rule | Sometimes called the “duopoly” rule, it allows ownership of up to two televisions stations in the same Designated Market Area (DMA) (as defined by Nielsen Media Research), so long as one of the stations is not ranked among the four highest-ranked stations and the market has at least eight independently owned stations. Proposed relaxations include: ownership of two television station or a duopoly in all markets, permitting ownership of three stations in all but the smallest markets. |
| Local Radio-Television Cross Ownership Rule | Permits up to two TV and six radio stations (or one TV and seven radio) so long as there are at least the 20 independent voices in the market (TV, radio, daily newspapers, cable service). Media companies like Clear Channel, which already own radio and television stations in the same market, will likely push for relaxing the current limits. |
| Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-ownership Ban | Prohibits ownership of a local radio or television station and a major local daily newspaper. The ban is a major target of Chairman Martin, who views the increase in local news content and information available online as a justification for eliminating the rule. |
| Dual Network Ban | Prevents the ownership of two broadcast television networks by a single entity. Rule only applies to the big four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, & FOX) and not to cable television networks or smaller broadcast networks such as WB/UPN or PAX. The rule remained untouched in the Commission’s 2002 review and it is unlikely the ban will be lifted as a result of this review. |
| UHF Discount on the National Television Ownership Limit | The rule provides an automatic 50% discount for measuring the viewership reach of UHF stations. When the rule was established in the 1970’s, there was a substantial difference in the signal strength of UHF stations versus their VHF counterparts. With the advent of cable, satellite, and now digital broadcasting, UHF stations are capable of reaching their entire designated market area. In the 2002 review the Commission maintained the 50% discount, noting that it would need to be reevaluated once the digital television transition has been completed. But, with some UHF stations now digitally broadcasting and being carried simultaneously on cable and satellite, the case for maintaining this outdated loophole is losing strength. |